Electronic waste is a significant part of today's global, post-consumer waste stream. Efforts are being made to recycle and reduce this waste.
Electronic waste is a significant part of today's global, post-consumer waste stream. Efforts are being made to recycle and reduce this waste.
The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, usually known simply as the Basel Convention, is an international treaty that was designed to reduce the movements of hazardous waste between nations, and specifically to prevent transfer of hazardous waste from developed to less developed countries.
Of the 172 parties to the Convention, Afghanistan, Haiti, and the United States have signed the Convention but have not yet ratified it.
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) tends to support the repair and recycling trade. Mining to produce the same metals, to meet demand for finished products in the west, also occurs in the same countries, and UNCTAD has recommended that restrictions against recycling exports be balanced against the environmental costs of recovering those materials from mining. Hard rock mining produces 45% of all toxins produced by all industries in the United States. [1]
Greenpeace contends that residue problems are so significant that the exports of all used electronics should be banned. [2]
The e-Waste Association of South Africa (eWASA) [3] was established in 2008 to manage the establishment of a sustainable environmentally sound e-waste management system for the country. Since then the non-profit organization has been working with manufacturers, vendors and distributors of electronic and electrical goods and e-waste handlers (including re-furbishers, dismantlers and recyclers) to manage e-waste effectively.
Many Asian countries have legislated, or will do so, for electronic waste recycling.
South Korea, Japan and Taiwan ensure manufacturer responsibility by demanding that they recycle 75% of their annual production. [4]
Chinese laws are primarily concerned with eliminating the import of e-waste. China has ratified the Basel Convention as well as the Basel Ban Amendment, officially banning the import of e-waste. [5] In October 2008, The Chinese State Council also approved a "draft regulation on the management of electronic waste." [5] This regulation is intended to promote the continued use of resources through recycling and to monitor the end-of-life treatment of electronics. Under the new regulations, recycling of electronics by the consumer is mandated. It also requires the recycling of unnecessary materials discarded in the manufacturing process. [6]
Some European countries implemented laws prohibiting the disposal of electronic waste in landfills in the 1990s. "This created an e-waste processing industry in Europe."
In Switzerland, the first electronic waste recycling system was implemented in 1991, beginning with collection of old refrigerators. Over the years, all other electric and electronic devices were gradually included in the system. Legislation followed in 1998, and since January 2005 it has been possible to return all electronic waste to the sales points and other collection points free of charge. There are two established producer responsibility organizations: SWICO, mainly handling information, communication, and organization technology, and SENS, responsible for electrical appliances. The total amount of recycled electronic waste exceeds 10 kg per capita per year. [7]
Additionally, the European Union has implemented several directives and regulations that place the responsibility for "recovery, reuse and recycling" on the manufacturer.
The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE Directive), as it is often referred to, has now been transposed in national laws in all member countries of the European Union. It was designed to make equipment manufacturers financially or physically responsible for their equipment at the end of its life, under a policy known as Extended producer responsibility (EPR). "Users of electrical and electronic equipment from private households should have the possibility of returning WEEE at least free of charge", [8] and manufacturers must dispose of it in an environmentally friendly manner, by ecological disposal, reuse, or refurbishment. EPR is seen as a useful policy as it internalizes the end-of-life costs and provided a competitive incentive for companies to design equipment with fewer costs and liabilities when it reached its end of life. [9] However, the application of the WEEE Directive has been criticized for implementing the EPR concept in a collective manner, and thereby losing the competitive incentive of individual manufacturers to be rewarded for their green design.[32] Since August 13, 2005, electronics manufacturers have become financially responsible for compliance to the WEEE Directive. Under the directive, each country recycles at least 4 kg of electronic waste per capita per year. Furthermore, the Directive should "decrease e-waste and e-waste exports.". [10] In December 2008 a draft revision to the Directive proposed a market-based goal of 65%, which is 22 kg per capita in the case of the United Kingdom. [11] A decision on the proposed revisions could result in a new WEEE Directive by 2012.
The Directive on the Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (2002/95/EC), [12] commonly referred to as the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS Directive), was also adopted in February 2003 by the European Union. The RoHS Directive took effect on July 1, 2006, and is required to be enforced and become law in each member state. This directive restricts the use of six hazardous materials in the manufacture of various types of electronic and electrical equipment.
The Battery Directive enacted in 2006 regulates the manufacture, disposal and trade of batteries in the European Union.
In February 2004, a fee similar to the one in California was added to the cost of purchasing new televisions, computers, and computer components in Alberta, the first of its kind in Canada. [13] Saskatchewan also implemented an electronics recycling fee in February 2007, [14] followed by British Columbia in August 2007, [15] Nova Scotia in February 2008, [16] Ontario in April 2009, [17] and Quebec in October 2012. [18] In 2007, Manitoba issued the Proposed Electrical and Electronic Equipment Stewardship Regulation by which the sale of regulated products is forbidden unless covered by the stewardship program. "Products covered under this legislation include TVs, computers, laptops, and scanners." [19] Recycling regulation passed in Ontario in October 2004, requires producers to "either develop product stewardship plans or comply with a product stewardship program for specific products." [20]
Canadian Federal legislation The Export and Import of Hazardous Waste and Hazardous Recyclable Material Regulations (EIHWHRMR) operates with a few basic premises, one of which being that electronic waste is either "intact" or "not intact". The various annexes define hazardous waste in Canada, and also deem any waste that is "...considered or defined as hazardous under the legislation of the country receiving it and is prohibited by that country from being imported or conveyed in transit" to be covered under Canadian regulation and therefore subject to prior informed consent procedures. [21] [22]
The loophole in the regulations that allows tons of e-waste to be exported from Canada is the use of the definition of "intact" vs "functional". A non-functioning electronic device that is intact can be exported under the current legislation. What can't be exported is a non-functioning but no longer intact electronic device. The principal problem being, the non-functioning electronic device is at high risk of being disassembled in some far away e-waste dumping ground. The Canadian government's use of a unique interpretation of the Basel Convention obligations "intact" and "not intact" opens the door to uncontrolled e-waste exports as long as the device is intact. See Canadian fact sheet and associated links. [23]
Since Canada ratified the Basel Convention on August 28, 1992, and as of August 2011, Environment Canada's Enforcement Branch has initiated 176 investigations for violations under EIHWHRMR, some of which are still in progress. There have been 19 prosecutions undertaken for non-compliance with the provisions of the EIHWHRMR some of which are still before the courts.
Israel adopted a national e-waste law that went into effect March 1, 2014. By 2021, the law demands that electronic companies must recycle at least 50% of the weight of the electronics they sell. [24] In addition, these companies are required to accept old electronics from consumers free of charge. Israel’s e-waste laws have resulted in much greater participation in recycling. One of Israel’s main companies, M.A.I., an electronics recycling corporation, has reported that they have recycled 5000 tons of electronic waste in 2014, which already exceeds their personal requirement of recycling 4700 tons. [24]
EPR laws in Latin America are present but could use improvement in terms of the “consistency regarding criteria for the development of new EPR programs that has impeded the broad development of EPR laws, such as post evaluation programs, overall cost of waste management, reduction in the use of resources and decrease of the public sector burden”. [25] However, one aspect that differentiates their laws from those currently present in the U.S. is that they are quickly moving away from voluntary laws and working towards implementing more direct/demanding policies. Countries such as “Colombia, Costa Rica, and Chile have been the first in the region to introduce EPR as a policy approach that seeks to address the problems of pollution and overflowing landfills by implementing alternatives for waste management”. [25]
Given the rise of waste production during the past decade, solid waste management has recently become a central concern for Chile’s government. In 2009, the Chilean National Environmental Commission identified Chile as “one of the countries with the highest rates of waste generation in Latin America”. [25] They’ve since been working to implement a law, with the help of the National Environment Commission (CONAMA), that would add regulatory power over waste production. In August 2013, the Chilean congress approved a law that established a framework for waste management, EPR and the encouragement of recycling.
In 2013, Colombia implemented an EPR law that ultimately focused on enforcing guidelines for managing electronic waste. Additionally, the country has developed a number of “post-consumer programs for used batteries, medicine, computers and printers, fluorescent light bulbs, used tires and pesticide containers”. [25] Today, Colombia has a legal framework for EPR in place.
Upon its implementation in 2006, the Mercosur Policy Agreement mandated Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay to anchor EPR laws as environmental policies. [26] Brazil enacted a National Policy to reduce solid waste which ultimately acted as an EPR and as a way to reduce both solid and hazardous waste.
Electronic waste here is very low but there is still nearly .981 million tons of E-waste
Electronic waste has been on the agenda of the Australian Federal Government since the mid-1990s. The Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council (now replaced by the Environment Protection and Heritage Council (EPHC)) was the first body to identify electrical and electronic waste as a concern. In 2002, the EPHC again declared that e-waste needed action. The Electrical Equipment Product Stewardship Sub-Group examined the issue and decided that computer and television waste were 'wastes of concern'. Since that time the television and computer industry has been working with the EPHC to identify a suitable way to manage end-of-life televisions and computers.
In November 2008 the EPHC committed to the development of a national solution to the issue of managing television and computer waste. [27] This action culminated in the release of a package of documents designed to enable public consultation on the various options for managing end-of-life televisions and computers on 16 July 2009. [28] The main document in the package is the Consultation Regulatory Impact Statement: Televisions and Computers. The paper canvasses various options for managing end-of-life units and analyses the costs and benefits of each. The Consultation Paper does not have a preferred option. The preferred option will be developed by government through the public consultation process prior to the next meeting of the EPHC on 5 November 2009 in Perth where State and Federal Minister will adopt a position. [29]
A series of public meetings were held in Adelaide, Perth, Sydney and Melbourne to receive feedback to the government's proposals. The meetings occurred in late July and early August 2009.
In November 2009 the National Waste Policy was agreed by governments across Australia and officially endorsed by the Council of Australian Governments in August 2010. [30] The Product Stewardship Act 2011 introduced new legislation and provided a framework for developing legislatively backed product stewardship for Australia. Shortly thereafter the National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme (NTCRS) [31] was introduced, which mandated the first targets for electronics recycling in Australia.
The NTCRS has a strong focus on providing free access to the Australian public for e-waste recycling, with services being rolled out progressively across all Australian States in 2012/13. With an initial focus on televisions, computers and computer peripherals the NTCRS is aims to significantly increase recycling rates for electronics in Australia, from an estimated 17.00% in 2010 to 30.00% in 2012/13 and up to 80.00% by 2021/22. [32]
Product Stewardship Australia (PSA) [33] is a not-for-profit organisation established by the television industry to lead the way in developing recycling programs for e-waste in Australia, particularly televisions. PSA works closely with both state and federal governments along with other industry associations to advance product stewardship in Australia. PSA has contributed to the development of the Consultation Regulatory Impact Statement on Televisions and Computers.[ citation needed ]
The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, usually known as the Basel Convention, is an international treaty that was designed to reduce the movements of hazardous waste between nations, and specifically to restrict the transfer of hazardous waste from developed to less developed countries. It does not address the movement of radioactive waste, controlled by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The Basel Convention is also intended to minimize the rate and toxicity of wastes generated, to ensure their environmentally sound management as closely as possible to the source of generation, and to assist developing countries in environmentally sound management of the hazardous and other wastes they generate.
The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive is a European Community Directive, numbered 2012/19/EU, concerned with waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). Together with the RoHS Directive 2011/65/EU, it became European Law in February 2003. The WEEE Directive set collection, recycling and recovery targets for all types of electrical goods, with a minimum rate of 4 kilograms (9 lb) per head of population per annum recovered for recycling by 2009. The RoHS Directive set restrictions upon European manufacturers as to the material content of new electronic equipment placed on the market.
The Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive 2002/95/EC, short for Directive on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment, was adopted in February 2003 by the European Union.
Extended producer responsibility (EPR) is a strategy to add all of the estimated environmental costs associated with a product throughout the product life cycle to the market price of that product, contemporarily mainly applied in the field of waste management. Such societal costs are typically externalities to market mechanisms, with a common example being the impact of cars.
Electronic waste recycling, electronics recycling, or e-waste recycling is the disassembly and separation of components and raw materials of waste electronics; when referring to specific types of e-waste, the terms like computer recycling or mobile phone recycling may be used. Like other waste streams, reuse, donation, and repair are common sustainable ways to dispose of IT waste.
An Electronic Waste Recycling Fee is a fee imposed by government on new purchases of electronic products. The fees are used to pay for the future recycling of these products, as many contain hazardous materials. Locations that have such fees include the European Union, the US State of California and the province of Ontario, Canada.
Electronic waste describes discarded electrical or electronic devices. It is also commonly known as waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) or end-of-life (EOL) electronics. Used electronics which are destined for refurbishment, reuse, resale, salvage recycling through material recovery, or disposal are also considered e-waste. Informal processing of e-waste in developing countries can lead to adverse human health effects and environmental pollution. The growing consumption of electronic goods due to the Digital Revolution and innovations in science and technology, such as bitcoin, has led to a global e-waste problem and hazard. The rapid exponential increase of e-waste is due to frequent new model releases and unnecessary purchases of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE), short innovation cycles and low recycling rates, and a drop in the average life span of computers.
The electronics industry is the economic sector that produces electronic devices. It emerged in the 20th century and is today one of the largest global industries. Contemporary society uses a vast array of electronic devices that are built in factories operated by the industry, which are almost always partially automated.
Household hazardous waste (HHW) was a term coined by Dave Galvin from Seattle, Washington in 1982 as part of the fulfillment of a US EPA grant. This new term was reflective of the recent passage of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 in the US. This act and subsequent regulations strengthened the environmental protection requirements for landfills, in Subpart D, and created a "cradle to grave" management system for hazardous wastes, in Subpart C. From RCRA 1976 the US EPA promulgated rules in 1980 which explicitly excluded any wastes from household origins from regulation as a hazardous waste at the federal level. Most US states adopted parallel regulations to RCRA 1976 but were allowed to be more stringent. California took advantage of this allowance and chose to not exempt household origin wastes from their state hazardous waste laws. HHW products exhibit many of the same dangerous characteristics as fully regulated hazardous waste which are their potential for reactivity, ignitability, corrosivity, toxicity, or persistence. Examples include drain cleaners, oil paint, motor oil, antifreeze, fuel, poisons, pesticides, herbicides and rodenticides, fluorescent lamps, lamp ballasts containing PCBs, some smoke detectors, and in some states, consumer electronics. Except for California, most states exclude HHW from their hazardous waste regulations and regulate the management of HHW largely under their solid waste regulatory schemes.
The Basel Action Network (BAN), a charitable non-governmental organization, works to combat the export of toxic waste from technology and other products from industrialized societies to developing countries. BAN is based in Seattle, Washington, United States, with a partner office in the Philippines. BAN is named after the Basel Convention, a 1989 United Nations treaty designed to control and prevent the dumping of toxic wastes, particularly on developing countries. BAN serves as an unofficial watchdog and promoter of the Basel Convention and its decisions.
Electronic waste or e-waste in the United States refers to electronic products that have reached the end of their operable lives, and the United States is beginning to address its waste problems with regulations at a state and federal level. Used electronics are the quickest-growing source of waste and can have serious health impacts. The United States is the world leader in producing the most e-waste, followed closely by China; both countries domestically recycle and export e-waste. Only recently has the United States begun to make an effort to start regulating where e-waste goes and how it is disposed of. There is also an economic factor that has an effect on where and how e-waste is disposed of. Electronics are the primary users of precious and special metals, retrieving those metals from electronics can be viewed as important as raw metals may become more scarce
Waste management laws govern the transport, treatment, storage, and disposal of all manner of waste, including municipal solid waste, hazardous waste, and nuclear waste, among many other types. Waste laws are generally designed to minimize or eliminate the uncontrolled dispersal of waste materials into the environment in a manner that may cause ecological or biological harm, and include laws designed to reduce the generation of waste and promote or mandate waste recycling. Regulatory efforts include identifying and categorizing waste types and mandating transport, treatment, storage, and disposal practices.
Electronic waste or e-waste in China refers to electronic products that are no longer usable and are therefore dumped or recycled. China is the world's largest importer and producer of electronic waste with over 70% of all global e-waste ending up in the world's largest dumpsites. An estimated 60–80% of this e-waste is handled through illegal informal recycling processes, without the necessary safety precautions legally required by Chinese government regulations. Processing e-waste in this way directly causes serious environmental damage and permanent health risks in areas surrounding the disposal sites. While the Chinese government and the international community have taken action to regulate e-waste management, ineffective enforcement, legislative loopholes, and the pervasiveness of informal recycling have been obstacles to mitigating the consequences of e-waste.
Electronic waste in New Zealand is an environmental issue being addressed by community and government initiatives.
As a nation, Americans generate more waste than any other nation in the world, officially with 4.4 pounds (2.0 kg) of municipal solid waste (MSW) per person per day, with another study estimating 7.1 pounds (3.2 kg) per capita per day. Fifty five percent of this waste is contributed as residential garbage, while the remaining forty five percent of waste in the U.S.'s 'waste stream' comes from manufacturing, retailing, and commercial trade in the U.S. economy. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, Nevada produces the most waste at "[nearly] 8 pounds (3.6 kg) per person per day". Approximately 90% of all waste produced by Nevadans ends up in landfills. "Wasteful" states Michigan, New Mexico, Wisconsin and Oregon as well as Washington also dominated the list's 5-year period.
Agbogbloshie was the nickname of a commercial district on the Korle Lagoon of the Odaw River, near the center of Accra, Ghana's capital city in the Greater Accra region, before it was demolished by the Ghanian government in 2021. Near the slum called "Old Fadama", the Agbogbloshie site became known as a destination for externally generated automobile and electronic scrap collected from mostly the western world. It was a center of a legal and illegal exportation network for the environmental dumping of electronic waste (e-waste) from industrialized nations. The Basel Action Network, a charitable non-governmental organization based in Seattle, has referred to Agbogbloshie as a "digital dumping ground", where millions of tons of e-waste were processed each year.
Appliance recycling is the process of dismantling scrapped home appliances to recover their parts or materials for reuse. Recycling appliances for their original or other purposes, involves disassembly, removal of hazardous components and destruction of the equipment to recover materials, generally by shredding, sorting and grading. The rate at which appliances are discarded has increased due in part to obsolescence due to technological advancement, and in part to not being designed to be repairable. The main types of appliances that are recycled are televisions, refrigerators, air conditioners, washing machines, and computers. When appliances are recycled, they can be looked upon as a valuable resources; if disposed of improperly, they can be environmentally harmful and poison ecosystems.
Electronic waste is emerging as a serious public health and environmental issue in India. India is the "Third largest electronic waste producer in the world"; approximately 2 million tons of e-waste are generated annually and an undisclosed amount of e-waste is imported from other countries around the world.
Waste management in South Korea involves waste generation reduction and ensuring maximum recycling of the waste. This includes the appropriate treatment, transport, and disposal of the collected waste. South Korea's Waste Management Law was established in 1986, replacing the Environmental Protection Law (1963) and the Filth and Cleaning Law (1973). This new law aimed to reduce general waste under the waste hierarchy in South Korea. This Waste Management Law imposed a volume-based waste fee system, effective for waste produced by both household and industrial activities.
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